Yale Goalkeeper Finishes With 15 Saves

STORRS, Conn. - Goalkeeper Ayana Sumiyasu did everything she could to give the Yale women's soccer team a chance to upset UConn on Sunday at Morrone Stadium. She finished with a career-high 15 saves, but the one shot the Huskies got past her proved to be the difference. Melissa Busque's goal in the 67th minute lifted UConn to a 1-0 victory over the Bulldogs before a crowd of 880 on a sun-drenched afternoon.

"Ayana was tremendous," said Yale head coach Rudy Meredith.

Sumiyasu has now had two of her best performances against the Huskies. Last year she made 14 saves in the season-opener at UConn.

The game-winner came when Erin Clark sent a pass up to Busque, who drilled a shot that Sumiyasu stopped. Busque, though, corralled the rebound and tapped it in.

The Huskies (6-2) have won six in a row and figure to be nationally ranked come Tuesday when the weekly polls are released.

"I thought we battled hard and played really well," Meredith said. "This will be good preparation for the start of Ivy League play. There were a lot of positives."

UConn outshot the Bulldogs 36-10 but had only a 5-4 edge in corner kicks.

Jessica Dulski made two saves to post the shutout in goal for the Huskies.

Yale (3-3) was playing its first road game of the season after opening with five straight home games.

The Bulldogs return to Reese Stadium to host Quinnipiac on Tuesday at 5 p.m. before opening Ivy play next Saturday at Princeton.

Report filed by Tim Bennett, Yale Sports Publicity

Click here for video highlights by David Dikranian